First United Bank & Trust Boosts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

First United Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 29.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Aflac were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 7.0% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Transform Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $252,000. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 16.1% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 646,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,863,000 after purchasing an additional 89,733 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Raymond James cut their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $102.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $86.46 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $105.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.